Who in your family needs what, and at what level

Go through your household one person at a time: their age, and what they'd realistically use cover for. This guide shows how to match each need to a level of cover, and what to ask an insurer.

Working through your household

Add a family member, give their age, and note what they would realistically use cover for: a child's specialist referral, a parent's physiotherapy, a pregnancy. Do that for everyone in the household and you can set a level of cover against each person, based on what they are likely to need.

Where a child might cost nothing extra

Some insurers price children differently once there is more than one of them in the policy, charging only for the eldest and covering the rest at no extra cost under certain age limits. Where your household matches that shape, treat it as something worth checking with an insurer, not as a saving you can count on until they confirm it.

What you end up with

A starting point for working out what to ask an insurer, not an answer in itself. It can be wrong for your particular household, so treat it as a prompt for the next conversation rather than a conclusion.

How it works

What happens as you work through it

You go through this one person at a time, because what a six-year-old needs and what a parent needs are rarely the same question.

  1. List each person in the household

    Start with one member of the family and note their age. Add the rest the same way, one at a time, until everyone you'd want covered is in.

  2. Say what they'd actually use

    For each person, note what they'd realistically turn to private cover for. A child's specialist referral is a different question to an adult's physiotherapy or a pregnancy that might need maternity cover.

    A child

    a GP referral to a specialist, or an ongoing condition that needs monitoring

    An adult

    physiotherapy, a minor procedure, or outpatient appointments

    A pregnancy

    maternity cover, where an insurer offers it

  3. See which cover level addresses it

    Once you've noted what each person would use, look for the level of cover that would address it, such as outpatient cover for a referral or cover for a named procedure. It's a starting point for a question to an insurer, not a recommendation.

  4. Check whether a children's pricing rule applies

    Some insurers price children differently once there's more than one in the family. Where a published rule might apply to your household, note it so you remember to raise it before you apply.

    Read how insurers treat children for what these rules actually say and where they come from.

    A rule applies

    adding a second child may cost nothing extra, depending on how the insurer's eldest-child rule is written

    No rule published

    ask the insurer directly how they price additional children before you apply

A list like this can miss a use you haven't thought of or a rule an insurer hasn't published. What it gives you is something to take to an insurer or a regulated adviser, not a conclusion to act on.

What this page doesn't do

This page helps you match what each person in your household might realistically use to a level of cover, but it stops there. It doesn't quote you a price, because a premium depends on underwriting, age and postcode. It doesn't recommend a policy or an insurer either, and the level of cover you settle on for someone can turn out to be wrong if what they actually end up using is different.

  • No price or quote
  • No recommendation of a policy or an insurer
  • No form, and nothing asked of you

What you're left with is a shortlist of questions worth taking to an insurer or a regulated adviser.

What to check once you've mapped your household

Once you can see which level of cover fits each person, the next question is how an insurer prices the children you've just added.